arrested

Our amazing speech pathologist was meeting with third graders the other day and found herself discussing bedtimes. After learning they each went to bed WAY to late for a third grader (way to late for a teacher as well!) she gave them a quick lecture on how important it is to get a good night sleep. She ended it with,
"It is very important to be well-rested."

One of them gasped in horror. "We'll be arrested if we don't go to sleep early?"

The temptation to agree that yes, they would be arrested without a good night sleep would have been way, way too much for me. How much do you not want to agree, "Yes, absolutely. So tonight, go to bed early or I'm calling the cops."

Alas, as she is a good, moral teacher, she corrected his misunderstanding.

We all laughed about this, and then found ourselves reflecting on this kiddo. Although he played it off as being funny, he really did hear "arrested". How much of his day does he spend interpreting what was said and trying to make meaning out of the parts of words he hears? How much time does he spend trying to be silly to hide the fact he mis-heard directions? What information is he truly getting throughout the day?